French Onion Soup

My latest adventure was Paris on my birthday! It was such a memorable experience. First of all, I had just packed up everything from my apartment in Quimper, found a relative who had a studio apartment in Paris who was willing to let me sleep on his couch for a couple of days, and bought a train ticket over! I had two days to see everything that I could pack in and I didn't want to get on that flight back to the USA with any regrets!

After getting in to Paris by train, believe it or not, this small town girl had never taken a taxi by myself, let alone the metro! Those were both interesting experiences. I was very proud of the way I was able to navigate the metro, all thanks to the map that I downloaded on my iPhone. So I got into my cousin's apartment around noon. He had to go out for some business meetings and I was anxious to see the city! I was exhausted, though... so I took a little cat nap, snacked on some munchies I bought for myself on my birthday and then hit the metro for Notre Dame!

First metro ride of many... :)

The river Seine, which runs through Paris.

Notre Dame. This cathedral is so beautiful and historic! The architecture, the windows, the bells! Everything! Also, just wrap your mind around this: construction was begun in 1163 during the reign of King Louis VII and was completed in 1345. That means that this cathedral was on the earth before Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue in 1492 and before the founding of The United Stated of America in 1776. 

 Notre Dame de Paris is huge! I can't describe how big the building really is! The ceilings are so high!

 I love stained glass and rose windows.

I snuck this picture of the altar. Nobody was allowed in this area. 

Ok, so first of all, this kind of sucked but I wasn't feeling so good on my birthday. Add in traveling and it was a battle for sure! But even though I didn't have the biggest appetite I stopped at a small cafe close to Notre Dame and ordered some French Onion Soup. And OH MY GOSH, it was THE BEST french onion soup I have EVER HAD! It was so authentic and fresh. I don't know if I will ever have that good of soup again. But yeah, this was my birthday dinner and I LOVED it!

The next adventure was the Eiffel Tower! This was probably the coolest thing I could have done at sunset on my birthday. When I was planning this day out, I knew I wanted to hit the Eiffel Tower and I wasn't sure when, but I'm so happy it happened the way it did! When I got to the Eiffel Tower, I was looking forward to eating a couple things that I love the most to celebrate my birthday; I brought a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and a Dr. Pepper! Those are both extremely hard to find in France. I was saving both of them for a special day. 

Also, I wasn't sure if I wanted to climb the Eiffel Tower. To go up was more money and more time and it was pretty chilly outside. But boy, was it worth it! It was a workout though, 674 steps to the second platform! Whew! Looking out over Paris over sunset on my birthday was the icing on top of the cake. 

Right as I was leaving and heading back to the metro, the Eiffel Tower lit up! The lights go on at every hour. It was so beautiful!

The last stop of the evening was the Church of the Sacred Heart or Sacre-Coeur. It was so beautiful inside. Unfortunately no photography was allowed. This cathedral was at the top of hill overlooking Paris. You can see all the lights at night. There was a bunch of little vendors around as well. I found an artist selling his artwork and haggled with him for a steal of a deal on an original piece! I can sell a pretty convincing "student with no money" as long as I was willing to walk away from it. After that, I had it in the bag for the price I wanted!

DAY 2

I knew I wanted to hit the Louvre and a whole day I had nothing really planned but to soak up some art and become inspired. And that's exactly what happened! The Louvre is HUGE! And not only does it house centuries of history and beautiful art, but the building itself is a museum. So many stories of it's opulence and history. Napoleon Bonaparte's apartment was so ornate and gaudy, it was overwhelming! At the entrance, they offer a map in just about every language. That was my lifesaver, because I definitely got lost numerous times while looking at art. It's easy to get caught up in a wing and distracted. 

Hammurabi's Code

Madonna of the Rocks

The Mona Lisa

Louvre museum artwork--this is why the Louvre is a museum without all the art inside. 

Coronation of Napoleon

The Sabine Women-- tell me you aren't thinking of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers ;)

Venus de Milo

These dice were found in ancient Egyptian digs! I thought it was fascinating that dice used for games were that old!

Sphinx of Tanis

Hieroglyphs. There were tons of these, the most fascinating part was how much detail they were able to carve into the stone!

A mummy!

These are mummies of cats. Yes, they even mummified their felines! And their falcons, and their lizards, and their other pets!!!

 I could spend days in this museum. But my feet couldn't handle too much. So after a while I decided to head out to Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. Little did I know this was going to be another LOOOONG walk. 

This street is Champs-Elysees, a street with many vendors and posh shops. I was having fun just getting a bite to eat and walking and seeing all the stuff. There were so many people too! I can't imagine the tourist crowd in the summer!

I even found the love of my life on my walk! haha Ok ok, he's just my celebrity crush, but who can say no to a life-size version?!?

The Arc de Triomphe

Panorama at the top of the arc. 

By this time and all that walking, I was exhausted! So I turned in for the night before my flight back the USA in the morning. I was so excited to get back to America and see my family. By this time, I was so homesick and I needed some American company and food to heal my soul. But overall it was amazingly fun to tour Paris! It was an adventure doing it without anybody, but I know now that I can do anything on my own!